1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technology for controlling opening/closing of a door of a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
A latch device is provided between a main body and a door of a vehicle, and opening and closing of the door are controlled with the latch device. For example, a latch device controls not to open a door when a striker is engaged with a latch, and allows the door to be opened when the latch is released. Such a technology is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-182407.
In recent years, vehicles are designed to facilitate operations thereof, and an operation of a door is also demanded to be easy.
In the above conventional technology, the latch device is provided with a closing mechanism that is driven by an actuator. With this closing mechanism, when the latch moves from an open position to a half-latch position, the actuator is driven to succeed a door closing operation. Thus, a subsequent closing operation to a full-latch position is automatically performed, thereby making the door closing operation easy.
However, in the above latch device, if a detecting unit that detects a position of the latch, detects a position erroneously, the door may not be closed properly. For example, when the detecting unit erroneously detects that the latch has moved to the half-latch position, the latch is brought to the full-latch position even if the door is not closed. Therefore, when the door is actually closed, the latch and the striker cannot engage with each other. As a result, the door cannot be maintained in a closed state.
In another conventional technology, a latch engaging operation and a door opening movement are respectively driven by actuators. In the technology, a latch device is provided with a latch actuator that moves a striker and a latch to a full-latch state when the striker and the latch are brought to a half-latch state by a closing operation of the door. In addition, an open actuator is provided between a main body of a vehicle and the door. The open actuator moves the door to a fully opened position when the latch is released by a door opening operation. Thus, the operation of the door is facilitated.
Even when the latch is released, the striker may be positioned in an engagement groove of the latch. In such a condition, the latch is easily brought to the half-latch state even with a small shock, for example, when the door is touched lightly. If the latch is thus brought to the half-latch state, the open actuator and the latch actuator both operate to drive the door in opposite directions at the same time.